Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as his daily life on Coenties Slip.

Indiana's journal page for November 22, 1959, includes a sketch of a work titled New Dutch, which he notes he worked on late and into the morning of November 23. He records that the work was oil on canvas, cobalt blue and cadmium yellow medium, and 50 by 20 inches. The entry includes two notes added at a later date, one indicating the work was revised on December 1, and another indicating the work was overpainted.

Indiana also records that the Earl and Countess of Balfour were visiting New York. While Indiana was a student University of Edinburgh, Scotland (Fall 1953–Spring 1954) he became friends with Alison Balfour, their daughter. He wrote and dedicated a poem to her, "My First Spring in Scotland," which describes a visit to the Balfour family estate.